A quote from the just released unauthorised autobiography: Vanity in a newspaperman is like perfume on a whore; they wear it to conceal a dark whiff of themselves.
Showing all posts tagged mainstream media
Worry not, energy seekers, exploitation is never far away
This week’s New York Times featured an investigation about sourcing future energy needs. The world is open, so we’re told, and human beings, indigenous groups or the environment are ignored. That’s “business journalism” in a nut shell: Brazil has begun building its first nuclear submarine to protect its vast, new offshore oil discoveries. Colombia’s oil…
UN Palestine vote does nothing for Palestinian rights
As the UN vote on Palestine nears, opinion in much of the Western media is to support the bid. A sense of ‘about time’ and ‘Palestine deserves to be a state’ permeates the coverage. Predictably, Murdoch’s Australian shows its ingrained hatred of Arabs in today’s editorial (with no mention of the occupation, which for the…
Future for good journalism is interactivity (or death)
Following last weekend’s first investigative journalism conference in Australia, Pacific Media Watch have highlighted some of the key points discussed by yours truly: Freelance journalist and author Antony Loewenstein, speaking about Wikileaks, said Julian Assange’s efforts were miles ahead of the mainstream media, as he was not concerned about corporate pressures, and delivered maximum information…
How to represent the post 9/11 American decade
I’ve spent the last days at Australia’s first investigative journalism conference organised by the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism, where I’m an Honorary Associate. It was called Back to the Source and I spoke on the effect of Wikileaks on modern journalism (short version; it’s major, it’s profound and the mainstream press are nervous about…
Who is dreaming of a completely privatised America?
Project of Government Oversight give us the facts and the public/media/political response is minimal. Simple question: at what point will a totally privatised world cause concern for society (hint: now)? The U.S. government’s increasing reliance on contractors to do work traditionally done by federal employees is fueled by the belief that private industry can deliver…
ABCTV News24 on climate change, Murdoch thuggery and asylum seekers
I appeared last night on ABCTV News24’s The Drum (video here). The Federal government is introducing its carbon tax legislation into the parliament and yet I argued it’s legitimate to ask why so many polluters are receiving such concessions. It’s an attempted political fix that hasn’t convinced many Australians. Simply put, many people are skeptical…
Former NYT head admits backing for Iraq war because he wanted to be manly
The New York Times after 9/11 was notorious for consistently siding with the Bush administration, especially backing the Iraq war thanks to the stenography of Judith Miller. Bill Keller has just stepped down from his role as Executive Editor of the paper and writes this revealing essay about why he and many “liberals” embraced the…
A decade of (mostly) media failure since 9/11
Al Jazeera English captures the post 9/11 decade well, showing how the vast majority of journalists and media companies became propagandists for endless war against the Muslim world: